Most people might take a hot shower and clean clothes for granted, but for the region’s homeless, both are often luxuries.

But now East Palo Alto-based Project WeHOPE has teamed up with Downtown Streets Team and Trinity Church in Sunnyvale to launch Dignity on Wheels, a new program that provides free roving showers and laundry service to homeless individuals.

The program rolls out a mobile truck trailer outfitted with two showers and a washer and dryer that people can use for free. It was launched with a ceremony Feb. 2 at Trinity Church in Sunnyvale.

As of now, there are four stops scheduled; two in Redwood City in San Mateo County, one in Sunnyvale at Trinity Church and one in Palo Alto.

By providing showers to those who come to those Dignity on Wheels’ stops twice a week the program aims to instill a sense of pride in their appearance.

The homeless will be allowed to use the shower rooms for 15 minutes, with hot water available for seven of those minutes. While people are showering, their laundry will be put into mesh bags for washing. Each person is limited to two pairs of pants and up to three T-shirts. Each four-hour stop will allow the program to do 14 loads of laundry.

The project sprung from a $200,000 contribution that an anonymous donor made last March. The truck has a 600-gallon water tank, a generator and two showers, one of which is wheelchair accessible. Tide and Downy have donated laundry materials for a year, and Garden Court Hotel has donated $10,000 worth of new towels.

Paul Bains, a pastor as well as Project WeHOPE’s founder and president, said that there has been significant interest in expanding the number of Dignity on Wheels stops, as well as the number of trucks.

“There’s interest in every city right now, including Gilroy. We’ve met with 40 churches in San Jose that would like to host. The demand is much greater than what we can supply right now,” Bains said.

Morris Chubb, board chairman of Project WeHOPE, added that a second truck will be delivered to the San Jose area by early April. In addition to the scheduled stops, Chubb and WeHOPE hope to make trips to homeless encampments in order to provide services to those who may not want to travel or know about the program.

“Those people don’t have a voice,” Chubb said. “We have everything we need in order to be totally mobile, and I’d like to see us going out more to the encampments because that’s where the need really is.”

Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian attended the launch event in Sunnyvale and praised the program.

“It may look like a van. It may just be a hot shower and a washer and dryer, but ask yourselves where that van is going to take us,” Simitian said. “I know there are men and women in this crowd that are going to take a shower, clean up, find a job that will be the ticket to a better life to permanent housing and their continued role as members of a larger community.”

One of the truck drivers, Jimmy Cosey, used to be homeless and is optimistic about the program. He said a shower can make all the difference to someone on the streets when it comes to searching for a job and getting cleaned up for an interview.

“This is awesome; it’s a wonderful feeling,” he said.

Dignity on Wheels will need more donations, supplies and volunteers to keep operating. Project WeHope is looking for underwear, biodegradable laundry detergent, body wash, cleaning supplies, toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant and shower flip-flops as well as caseworkers and individuals with driving experience.